Kolkata chit fund scam: Five held for duping investors across country of ‘crores’

Barasat police arrested five persons in connection with a chit fund scam on Wednesday. The accused allegedly duped people into investing money in two bogus companies — Besil International and Togo Marketing — assuring high returns. Police said those arrested included a doctor identified as Prithvi Pal Singh Shetty. The accused were produced in Barasat court and remanded to police custody for five days. Police sources said the accused had collected0000000 through various bogus schemes. “They cheated about 15-1600000 investors across states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal,” said an official. The accused initially tried to make excuses when people who wanted their money back after the maturity period. One day, they found their office closed, said police. Police swung into action after they received a complaint from one of the investors — Shershah Haq — a few months ago. They traced one of the accused — Prithvi Pal — to Chattisgarh, where he was arrested. After interrogating Prithvi Pal, police arrested four other accused — Sambhunath Ghosh, Vikash Ghosh, Chitaranjan Nath and Varun Ghosh. Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), while warning people against investing in dubious schemes, has issued a list of companies for fraudulently raising money from public. Both Besil International and Togo Marketing feature in the list.